This invention relates generally to cabinetmaker's shaper templates and in particular to an improved adjustable template for the shaping of uniform arched frame members for wood panelled doors.
Panelled doors are constructed of two vertical side members or stiles and two or more horizontal rails with both the stiles and rails having inside grooves or dadoes into which the door panels are fitted prior to the final assembly of the completed door.
Many types of panelled doors, particularly those used on fine hardwood cabinets, have various forms of ornamental arches and crowns formed in the inside edges of the vertical stiles and horizontal rails. To form uniform arches and crowns on the edges of lumber stock to be used to make several uniform cabinet doors, it is necessary for the cabinetmaker to use a shaper or suitable router having a desired cutter with a pilot that rolls against a template attached to the stock. The template must have a total length suitable for the particular rail or stile to be shaped and must be formed to correspond to the various arches, crowns or straight sections to be formed on the edge of the stock. If it is desired to shape large quantities of identical stiles or rails, only one template is required for rails and a second for stiles. But cabinetmakers of fine wooden cabinets are usually required to produce doors with identical crowns and arches, but for doors of various lengths and widths. Therefore, it is apparent that many different templates or various lengths and with various arch and crown patterns would normally be required.
The template to be described will replace all of the multitude of various size and shapes of shaper templates necessary in the well equipped cabinetmaker's shop. The template of the invention is adjustable in length and contains means for the attachment of suitable crown and arch templates so that it may be readily and rapidly adapted to any of the various lengths of rails or stiles that may be required in the manufacturing of various types and sizes of cabinet doors. The template includes means for clamping the wood stock and is sufficiently light in weight to permit the movement of template with the wood stock against a shaper cutter. In the alternate, the template with wood stock may be clamped to a suitable table so that a hand router or overhead shaper may be used to cut the desired moulding shape and panel groove in the edge of the stock.